Crinkle/bumpy valve cover paint? | FerrariChat

Crinkle/bumpy valve cover paint?

Discussion in 'Technical Q&A' started by Air_Cooled_Nut, Aug 28, 2005.

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

  1. Air_Cooled_Nut

    Air_Cooled_Nut Formula Junior

    Nov 25, 2004
    952
    Portland, Oregon
    Full Name:
    Toby Erkson
    I really like the look of the Ferrari crinkle paint used on the valve covers. What is the proper technical name for this paint/coating?
     
  2. Steve Magnusson

    Steve Magnusson Two Time F1 World Champ
    Lifetime Rossa

    Jan 11, 2001
    25,038
    30°30'40" N 97°35'41" W (Texas)
    Full Name:
    Steve Magnusson
    Do you mean the "hide the crappy casting surface under the crinkle" paint? ;)

    (Can't say I've ever come across any technical term other than "crinkle" or "wrinkle" -- but I'm not looking that hard ;))
     
  3. ferraripete

    ferraripete F1 World Champ

    i too am interested in the paint and the proper process to prep and apply.
     
  4. mark328

    mark328 Guest

    Jul 30, 2005
    664
    Mi
    Full Name:
    Mark
    Most auto stores sell a high temp. wrinkle finish paint that comes in a spray can. Alot of stores only carry it in black, but i have seen it in other colors.
     
  5. pstarkt

    pstarkt Rookie

    Sep 26, 2004
    47
    Seattle, WA
  6. Verell

    Verell F1 Veteran
    Consultant Owner

    May 5, 2001
    7,017
    Groton, MA
    Full Name:
    Verell Boaen
    I recoated my valve covers with VHT Wrinkle Black. Wrote it up about 4 years ago in the old fchat tech Q&A. A search of the old fchat posts for:

    "VHT wrinkle valve cover"

    should do it.

    The paint is still holding up great.
     
  7. Glassman

    Glassman F1 World Champ
    Rossa Subscribed Silver Subscribed

    It's not east to get a really good wrinkle. There are some good threads if you search that give detailed directions. It has to be hot to get a good finish. The powder coated finish is not very good. I would stay away from it.
     
  8. Air_Cooled_Nut

    Air_Cooled_Nut Formula Junior

    Nov 25, 2004
    952
    Portland, Oregon
    Full Name:
    Toby Erkson
    http://70.85.40.84/~ferrari/discus/messages/256120/131089.html
    This thread looks like the best find. Thanks.
     
  9. staatsof

    staatsof Nine Time F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Mar 13, 2005
    91,371
    Fuggetaboutitland
    Full Name:
    Bob
    I just did my valve covers in a wrinkle powder coat and it was fine. The wrinkles aren't as pronounced but that also depends on how good you are at applying the regular wrinkle paint. It can be tricky to get a consistent wrinkle.

    Bob S.
     
  10. Air_Cooled_Nut

    Air_Cooled_Nut Formula Junior

    Nov 25, 2004
    952
    Portland, Oregon
    Full Name:
    Toby Erkson
    My concern with powder coating a valve cover is how well the paint will hold up to the heat. Or do Ferrari valve covers stay below 400ºF?
     
  11. 285ferrari

    285ferrari Two Time F1 World Champ
    Sponsor

    Sep 11, 2004
    20,845
    Southern Md
    Full Name:
    Robbie
    Does powder coating have a heat tolerance limit?? I know you cant do headers and stuff but how hot can it get. High heat stuuf can be ceramic coated I beleive.
     
  12. Tifosi66

    Tifosi66 Formula 3

    Nov 30, 2004
    1,786
    Jiang Jia Jie
    Full Name:
    Li-Ge
    Gorgeous looking 12 you have there Steve !
     
  13. fana355france

    fana355france Formula Junior
    BANNED

    Aug 10, 2005
    284
    France
    Full Name:
    nicolas
    Could you tell us the references of the painting you used and the make ?
    Glasurit, RM, 3M ...?
    Is it same like original crinkly ?
     
  14. tomoshea

    tomoshea Formula Junior

    Dec 29, 2003
    541
    Ireland
    Full Name:
    Tom O'Shea
    #15 tomoshea, Aug 29, 2005
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Wrinkle size is dependant oh how thick the coats of paint are you put on from a spray can, the thinker the layers of paint the thicker the wrinkles, but also the longer to dry.

    See my cam covers attached - going back into a GT4 hopefully in September.

    To complete cam covers, belt covers and air filter box(black) required 2 can of paint that is all.
    Image Unavailable, Please Login
     
  15. Glassman

    Glassman F1 World Champ
    Rossa Subscribed Silver Subscribed

    The problem with the powder coat is that the wrinkles are very small. Its almost like a hammered finish. I personally wouldn't use it because you can get great wrinkle with the spray and some experience.
     
  16. Air_Cooled_Nut

    Air_Cooled_Nut Formula Junior

    Nov 25, 2004
    952
    Portland, Oregon
    Full Name:
    Toby Erkson
    Thanks for the input and photos, very nice! Can you please tell us the brand of paint?
     
  17. tomoshea

    tomoshea Formula Junior

    Dec 29, 2003
    541
    Ireland
    Full Name:
    Tom O'Shea
    #18 tomoshea, Aug 29, 2005
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    My advice would be to practice a couple of times on on a piece of old metal until you see how different sprays/ thickness affect finish. Then spray on the parts accordingly.

    This stuff can take up to 3 days to fully dry but is touch dray in a couple of hours. If you use heavy pressure before day 3 it will tear and you will find went paint under the surface finish.

    I suggest that if you have a big enough air fan oven in the house that once you have applied the necessary coats of paint you place the parts in teh over with the door open and warm air passing over them for 20- 30 minutes (temperature no higher than 60 deg celcius).

    This accelerates the crinkle process. make sure you cover any polished or surfaces that you want to remain as metal because you will have difficulty removing the suff afterwards.

    FYI gasket remover applied to the dry paint will take it off don't bother with anything else you will just create a mess and it will take hours, other solvents don't really work.

    Attached also is the air filter housing finished in black FYI, belt covers red
    Image Unavailable, Please Login
    Image Unavailable, Please Login
    Image Unavailable, Please Login
     
    Backin49 likes this.
  18. mk e

    mk e F1 World Champ

    Oct 31, 2003
    12,899
    The twilight zone
    Full Name:
    The Butcher
    I do my wrinkling in the oven as well.....and only when my wife is be home or she freaks.

    I set it to 250F (121C) the last time and since I was in a hurry to put the engine back together, I let it go overnight, but the wrinkling is done in 20-30 minutes.

    A buddy of mine uses heat lamps which seem to work well too. With the heat lamp you can get the wrinkle to even out somewhat even if the paint isn't that even by selectively putting more heat in the areas where the paint is thin and less where it's thick....but I like the oven because it's easy.
     
  19. Dave

    Dave F1 Rookie

    Apr 15, 2001
    2,722
    Little Rock
    Full Name:
    David Jones
    Yep, nothing like having the wife come in the house on a weekend and announce, what is that smell, and then, you put what in my oven.

    I purchased an IR paint cure light that works great for things like this.
     
  20. Verell

    Verell F1 Veteran
    Consultant Owner

    May 5, 2001
    7,017
    Groton, MA
    Full Name:
    Verell Boaen
    I powdercoated JWise's QV plenum with Eastwood Bright Red Wrinkle. Powder works like the paint. The thicker you spray it on, the more pronounced the wrinkles. JWise's plenum came out with the appropriate wrinkling.

    BTW, The VHT Wrinkle is a fairly high temp rated paint. Think I posted it when I wrote up my experience with it. No sign of problems with my 308's valve covers. Not high temp enough for headers/exhaust components, but more than adequate for everything else.

    See my post in this thread for what I did:
    http://70.85.40.84/~ferrari/discus/messages/256120/8709.html

    CAUTION: This was the 1st time I did the valve covers. A year later they started peeling. I called VHT & was told that I should have skipped the self-etching primer as their black wrinkle is self-priming. So I stripped the covers using Strypeze & repeated the process w/o using primer. This 2nd time it was mid-winter. I painted the alve covers wrinkle black in an unheated garage ~40F temp. Put a 500W Halogen lamp about 2/3 meter above the cover overnite. Wrinkled up very uniformly.
     
  21. jwise

    jwise Formula Junior

    Apr 2, 2003
    781
    Portland Maine
    #22 jwise, Aug 29, 2005
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Here is my powder coated intake plenum before and after:

    Verell and I had a little bubbling in the coat because it was off-gassing while baking. We determined that we did not warm up the pieces enough before applying the powder.

    In the second photo- you can see the belt covers that were powder coated also- in silver.

    The outcome was fantastic and is as hard as nails.
    Image Unavailable, Please Login
    Image Unavailable, Please Login
    Image Unavailable, Please Login
    Image Unavailable, Please Login
     
  22. Verell

    Verell F1 Veteran
    Consultant Owner

    May 5, 2001
    7,017
    Groton, MA
    Full Name:
    Verell Boaen
    Oh, yes,
    JWise, Tnx for reminding me.

    Whenever powdercoating a potentially porous part used part, it's best to thoroughly clean it, then bake it at 450F for a few hours to boil out/break down any tiny pockets of oil or other liquids. Then degrease the part again & bake it again, then let cool to powdercoating temp. Make sure that the 2nd bake didn't bring any more oil, etc. to the surface. If necessay, do it a 3rd or 4th time.
     
  23. ClydeM

    ClydeM F1 World Champ
    Owner Rossa Subscribed

    Nov 4, 2003
    10,462
    Wayne, NJ
    Full Name:
    Clyde E. McMurdy
    I used VHT Red Wrinkle which *did not* match Corrso Rosso. But simply re-sprayed with a light coat of real Corrso Rosso. Came out pretty darn nice.
    No Easy bake oven either :)
     
  24. Air_Cooled_Nut

    Air_Cooled_Nut Formula Junior

    Nov 25, 2004
    952
    Portland, Oregon
    Full Name:
    Toby Erkson
    Very informative thread, thanks guys! :)
     

Share This Page